Back At It

The last time I flew was August 15 so it has been over 5 weeks since I have been up. After having had my head buried in my computer since I returned from my vacation, I got fed up today and checked the reservations for my favorite 172 and saw that after 4 PM, I was OK. So I called my instructor to see how long he would be out at the airport for some flying. He told me to do some solo flying. After the shaky solo I had and laying off for 5 weeks, I decided to do a day of dual training.

I am really glad I did as we had a cross wind and I was rusty. Finally after about 8 sloppy landings, I was getting the hang of it again. I was really challenged today with people extending their downwind legs farther out than I have ever seen. During one approach, we went all of the way to the outer marker 5 miles out. I made right hand traffic, left hand traffic, extended downwind legs and even thought we might get a wave off because of a slow plane on the runway. All in all it was a good refresher. As we were getting into the swing of things, Richard called the tower and asked for an option. As we turned to final, he said that I needed to do some solo work today. I told him that I just wanted to build up my confidence and get back in the saddle today, not do some solo work.

So we took the option to take off again and this time we headed south instead of staying it the pattern. I told Richard that all I have done lately is work on landings and haven't done anything fun. I wanted to fly over my house. Since Richard lives across the street, he knew the way by heart. We got another bonus as we had to fly over the area where the Plano Balloon Festival had their remaining balloons taking off. I was at 2000 feet and they were at about 900 feet. So we flew around the neighborhood, then headed back, past the balloons, and landed from a right hand pattern again.

All in all, it was a great refresher and I needed it.

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